For as
well-revered as his Lord of the Rings
trilogy remains among fans, reaction to Peter Jackson’s prequel exploration of
Middle-earth has been decidedly middle-of-the road. Last year’s An Unexpected Journey was enjoyable, but once you remove the
gorgeous scenery and the performance of Andy Serkis as Gollum, and are left
with a largely boring “adventure.” And
it certainly didn’t help public opinion of The
Hobbit film series or Warner Bros. when it was announced that the comparatively
short J.R.R. Tolkien novel was being stretched to three film adaptations: to
many, this decision reeked of Hollywood trying to pillage money from moviegoers. Needless to say, there was a lot riding on
the critical and commercial success of The
Desolation of Smaug, especially if studio executives wanted to avoid
audiences completely writing-off the final entry of Jackson’s second trilogy
next year. Still, with the return of
Orlando Bloom’s fan-favorite Legolas, maybe I would find myself enjoying this
fantasy sequel…as long as I avoided the nauseating HFR theater offerings.
Welcome
back Peter Jackson, as The Desolation of
Smaug addresses and improves upon the weaknesses of its predecessor,
thereby generating an utterly fantastic expansion of the classic story. The script makes ample effort to build upon
the considerable character list beyond familiar faces like Bilbo or
Thorin…granted, there is still some ground to cover in creating widespread
emotional attachment, but the growing familiarity with the Company of Dwarves
is welcome. When it comes to the new
characters, the easy standouts are Orlando Bloom and the gorgeous Evangeline
Lilly as Legolas and Tauriel; the two elven warriors pave the way for epic
action that evoke fond memories of Lord
of The Rings battles and absolutely crank the energy of this film. And yet, the true genius of the film doesn’t
reveal itself until audiences are introduced to the dragon Smaug, who has to be
the single coolest CGI character ever seen and is alone more than enough to
justify the price of admission. So, even
though you may have soured on Middle-earth after An Unexpected Journey, don’t make the mistake of missing the second
chapter.
Overall
Recommendation: Very High
